01/06/2013

Artist Profile #19: Katie Sopoci Drake (Chicago, IL)

Photo: Scott Pakudaitis

Hometown: Eden Prairie, MN

Current city: Chicago, IL

Age: 33

College and degree:
Luther College, BA in Theater/Dance with an emphasis in Dance and a minor in Vocal Performance

Graduate school and degree: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, MFA in Dance. I started when I was 23. I was the youngest in my class and really just had to keep my mouth shut and learn from the amazing women and men around me who actually knew what they were doing.
I went back to school at 29 to get my Graduate Laban Certification in Movement Analysis (GL-CMA) from Columbia College, Chicago and it has been the keystone of my teaching methods ever since.

Website: http://katiesopocidrake.weebly.com/

How you pay the bills:
I have done a lot to pay the bills. For a while I was paying my bills with college teaching and dancing but since I recently moved, I am back to a mixture of things. Right now I dance for Mordine and Company, teach dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and work administratively at The Dance Center of Columbia College.

All of the dance hats you wear: Dancer, Choreographer, and Teacher

Non-dance work you do:
At the moment I am a receptionist for The Dance Center of Columbia College which is fantastic because so much of the Chicago dance community passes through the doors and it allows me to see, for free, all the fantastic local, national, and international dance companies that are on The Dance Center’s Performance Season. As a dancer, you MUST keep seeing dance but it can get expensive. Ushering, volunteering, or working for a performance space is a great way to keep seeing dance on a dancer’s budget.

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Photo: Tom Clark

Describe the first 5 years post-college:

My first year out of college, I attached myself to Rosy Simas Danse which, at the time, was a small pick-up dance company in Minneapolis.
It was all about time and circumstance. Rosy had lost a dancer because of a motorcycle accident and needed someone to learn the part in 2 weeks for a show at The Walker Art Center. She had these fabulous veteran dancers in the show who had known her for years who would bust out no-nonsense demands like, “I don’t want her lifting me if she doesn’t know what she’s doing.” I learned about safety, respect and how the heck to put on a show with no money from Rosy’s crew.
For the next 5 years, I learned firsthand from Rosy about the nitty gritty of choreography, where inspiration comes from, and Minneapolis dance politics. Rosy ran her company like a family; her struggles were our struggles and ours were hers. To work with Rosy was to be involved in her life because her life was her art. Much of my viewpoint and values about dance are based on what I learned from her.
During that time, I worked long hours at half-dozen odd jobs and danced for many other choreographers around town. The money at my non-dance jobs was alluring because it allowed me to pay for my own productions but it also sucked time away from what I actually wanted to be doing, which was dancing. This proved to be a catalyst for change. Two and a half years after graduating college, I enrolled into UW-Milwaukee’s Low Residency MFA program because I knew I wanted to work in the dance world full-time, but I didn’t really know what avenue to take. Plus, with a Low Residency program, I didn’t have to give up my life in Minneapolis in order to get my degree.
As I was completing grad school, a professor introduced me to Deb Loewen, the Artistic Director of Wild Space Dance Company and I decided to move to Milwaukee to dance for her and to see what it was like to dance in a new city. Debra Loewen taught me all about site specific dance and put my love of reading on the stage. After almost 5 seasons with Wild Space, I met my husband, went back to school for my GL-CMA, moved to Florida, joined Momentum Dance Company and began to delve deeper into what it means to be a dancer and a teacher.
The biggest struggle and asset has been my wanderlust. I want to know what the dance scene is like in various cities and because of that, I have met so many wonderful dancers and have learned so much. The downside of moving around as a dancer is that you have to start building your reputation in the company all over again. This can put a damper on the momentum of your career.

A turning point:

Getting serious about other techniques outside of modern dance. I had gotten very comfortable with somatic modern dance forms because, at the time, that’s all I needed to get into a company in Minneapolis and Milwaukee. I could walk into almost any advanced class within that vein and feel very comfortable, but I could not say the same about any other style of dance. When I moved to Miami, I encountered a very different dance scene where ballet and classical modern forms such as Graham and Horton were the valued commodity. The fact that I might be the company member that the director had to “work around” when doing classical works really lit a fire under my butt to get back into those darn ballet classes that I had dreaded going to ever since college in the 90s. Many harrowing years later, I am still growing and becoming comfortable with ballet, but it has absolutely opened more doors for me and given me access to a better sense of articulation in my body which has inspired new avenues of creating movement in my own work.

Photo: Tom Clark

Describe your dancing life in your 30s:

I’m healthier and more fit now than I was in my 20s because I know my body better. Being a working dancer over 30 is much more about negotiating the mental hurdles. You are just as excited about dance, but you see less of your peers in class and you begin seeing more of your students. Not every dancer can open themselves up to being vulnerable in front of dancers that are or could be their students. It is part of my practice to stay vulnerable and to learn about my body and to learn from the bodies around me in class. Being open to looking fallible and learning from dancers who are younger or less experienced than you is just a part of being a life-long learner. If you want to keep growing, you have to get over it.
Auditioning with your students is also a reality of being a working professional in your 30s. It can also be humbling when the Artistic Directors you’re auditioning for are closer in age to you. There is this unspoken rule within the modern dance world that once you’re into your 30s, you should be moving into the role of choreographer or collaborator. I’m still learning and growing as a dancer and a choreographer and I still have the time and energy to do both, but the truth is that it gets a little harder to get hired in your 30s. I’ve gotten passed over more than once by directors who have assumed I won’t be around for a while, will get injured more quickly, will be harder to direct, etc, etc... But you’ve got to stay in it and just not care when you’re the oldest one in the company. I tend to gravitate more towards companies with more mature dancers now so I continue to get the benefit of more experienced dancers, but they are much harder to break into.
As a choreographer, I’ve gained so much perspective from my experiences and learned so much from my peers and their transitions into choreography. I never waste an opportunity to find out how another choreographer gets the job done. At this point, I am much more settled in my reasons for wanting to put work out there and that is such a relief. The first 5 years out of undergraduate school, I felt like I should have already figured out why I wanted to dance and create work. The reality was that I was a late bloomer. I needed to question more, observe more and think more about why I was doing the thing I was doing. Loving it was not enough. That’s why I’ve kept and will keep dancing for other people while I produce my own work. Other people’s processes, ways of coming at a problem, and reasons for tackling a subject are a constant source of inspiration and insight into what makes this art form so interesting and why I have to keep creating.

Major influences:

Rosy Simas of Rosy Simas Danse: She made me look like an animal and taught me that my love of floor work could be an asset.
Debra Loewen of Wild Space Dance Company: taught me about site specific dance, and I’ll never look at a performance space the same way ever again.
Delma Iles of Momentum Dance Company: taught me how to run a rehearsal efficiently and the discipline required to make a dance look its best.
Susan Marshall of Susan Marshall and Company: showed me that almost anything can be dance and if you really challenge it, you can tease it into the most interesting thing anyone has ever seen.
Bill T. Jones: He took all these different bodies, put them onstage and said, “This is what a world-class dance company can look like.” And we said, “Okay.” Amazing. I want to do that.
Tere O’Connor: He makes incredibly difficult and complex dances and says, “If you don’t get it, then maybe you need to think harder.” Okay he didn’t actually say that, but if he ever decided to use small words, he might.
There are many more people, but they all have one thing in common: You better be smart or you better get smart, because this isn’t an art form that you last long in without some major reading, studying and reflection.

Mentors/someone who believed in you:

If Deb Loewen hadn’t said, “You can teach, it’s not that hard, just go do it.” I might not have found out how amazing it is. If you are addicted to school and love learning, you might love teaching too. It’s also a lot less expensive.
Deb also came to see my first concert ever, which was so poorly attended that I think I only sold about 50 tickets during the whole weekend-long run (I was terrible at marketing and had just moved to Milwaukee). She offered to produce it on Wild Space Dance Company’s next season and after a lovely run in a large theater, and because of her support, I received my first glowing review in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Without her, my choreography would only live in the memories of those original 50 people and I might have put choreography on the back-burner for many more years.

Current curiosities:

I am obsessed with the representation of 1, 2, and 4 dimensional representations in a 3 dimensional perspective. We constantly teach dance according to lines, planes and spirals (1,2, and 3 dimensional representations of movement) and are still often presenting it in a space that encourages 2 dimensional viewing (a proscenium stage). I am trying to dissect what that does to our training methods and our viewing of dance. I am also developing methods of viewing 4 dimensions in a 3 dimensional perspective. It’s a geeky Laban thing, and I’m writing a book about it. I hope I actually finish it within the decade.

What you look for in a dancer:

I look at strength for floor work, good articulation (especially in the torso), someone who is adept at conveying changes in time, weight and has good spatial awareness and above all, will do anything I ask without giving me “the look”. I hate “the look." Just do it and let me worry about whether it translates on stage or not.

Advice to aspiring choreographers:

See as much as you can, take as many classes as you can, take every workshop that comes into town, use your contacts, and talk to every dancer you meet. They don’t know you’re interested unless you say you are. Lastly, don’t wait for someone to produce you. Have work ready to go, even if you’ve only shown it to friends in a studio. If it’s ready for production, it’s more likely to get funded or produced.

Future career goals:

Becoming a tenured professor, forming my own arts collaboration, finishing this book I’m writing, getting my PhD, and seeing how far I go as a professional dancer.

Advice to young dancers:

Keep taking classes. Every day. Don’t get into a company and think you’ve made it and can stop taking classes. It doesn’t work that way. Also, if you don’t make it into a company right away, stick around. People leave all the time to move, start a family, change careers, heal from an injury, etc. And, who will be left? You. Seriously, stick around and expect it to take years, not months, and you will do just fine.